PERMANENTLY CLOSED: The Rockin’ Chair Gift Shop, Houghton Lake
Part of the fun of driving through the upper parts of Michigan is stopping at souvenir shops. These are the places that sell stuff you won’t find anywhere else, with shelves stocked with stuff you don’t need whatsoever...but they’re fun.
Plus, it’s always a gas to buy a little trinket like fossilized cow poop or Corn Cob toilet paper for friends back home...because you know they really want these things, right?
One of the hundreds of souvenir shops was the former Rockin’Chair Gift Shop at Houghton Lake. Located at 3881 West Houghton Lake Drive, the Rockin’ Chair has been permanently closed since the early 2020s.
The shop began as Rockin' Chair Park in Shepherd in the 1950s. When US-127 was built, it bypassed the city, so in 1958, the owners decided to build a new store with an easier access – this time at Houghton Lake. They dropped the ‘park’ and tacked on ‘Gift Shop’ and that’s how it was known for decades.
The business was sold in 1965 and is believed to have permanently closed sometime after 2018.